Pressing apparatus



F. LOWENSTEIN. PRESSING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION mu) 050.22. 1911.

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PRESSING APPARATUS- APPLICATION FILED DEC. 22

Patented Apr. 4, 19

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album n1 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

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Application filed December 22, 1917.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, F nrrz LOWENSTEIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at New York, county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pressing Apparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,- clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to pressing apparatus, and especially to sad irons, and comprises apparatus of this kind in which the pressing capability of the pressing member, such as a sad iron, is reduced or eliminated when the pressing member occupies certain positions. The expression pressing capabili'ty is here used in a broad sense to mean the capability of the pressing member to exert a pressing force either by reason of its own weight or with the aid of an applied force.

In a narrower sense, an import-ant object of the invention is to enable the employment by an operator of a relatively heavy sad iron without the operators being compelled to sustain the full weight of the iron while moving it from resting position or from pressing position, while at the same time the full weight of said iron, or substantially its full weight, is available when the iron is in actual pressing position.

As illustrative of the broad principles of the invention and more particularly of that embodiment thereof in which a relatively heavy sad iron is employed, the apparatus shown in the accompanying drawings and hereinafter described may be taken as a conorete example.

One form which my invention may assume is exemplified in the following description and illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Fig-1'1 is a top View of the apparatus with the ceiling removed;

Fig; 2 is a side elevation;

Fig. 3 isa front elevation;

Figs. 4 to 8 are purely diagrammatic representations of some of the positions which the apparatus may assume;

Fig. 4: shows the rest position of the sad an intermediate position of the approaching-the board;

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 4, 1922.

Serial No. 208,373.

Fig. 6 is another intermediate position showing the iron still closer to the board;

Fig. 7 shows the iron resting on the board in its pressing position;

Fig. 8 shows the iron still resting on the board at the end of a lateral stroke.

The apparatus, as shown principally in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, comprises a bearing frame 1 suspended from a ceiling 2, by bolts 3, and carrying a horizontal shaft 4. At one end of this shaft is a rope pulley 5 with a helical groove 6 ending in a partition 7. A rope 8, not much longer than is necessary to fill the groove, extends through a hole in partition 7 and is held in place by a knot 9. Another pulley 10 having a helical groove 11 is rigidly mounted upon the other end of the shaft 4;. The upper portion of a long rope 12 is wound in the groove 11, the end of the rope being made fast at one end 13 of the groove.

The pulley 10 has a diameter considerably larger than that of the pulley 5 so that the lever arm through which the rope 12 exerts a torque on the shaft 4 is considerably greater than the lever arm through which the rope 8 exerts its torque on said shaft. The ropes S and '12 are wound in opposite directions on their respective pulleys.

A metal link 20 is attached to the lower end of the rope 8, this link being about six feet in length with the usual height of ceiling. A turnbuckle 21 secured to said link has a hook 22 at its lower end which is I inserted in a hole 23 of the supporting member 24. This supporting member is securely fastened to the sad iron 25 and has such a form that it will; not interfere with the hand orarm of the operator. The sad iron is provided with the usual handle 26 and gas connection 27. I

The rope 12 passes through a bushing 28 in pressing table or buck 29 andis tied at its lower end to a counterpoise 30 which preferably made up of a plurality of weights so Zthat the total weight of the counterpoise may be adjusted to balance sad irons of va-- rious weights.

The bushing 28 islpreferably so placed with respect to the pulley 10 that the movematically apply a suflicient upward force to counterbalance the sad iron. it will be l as so that the passage of the ledge through an angle of 90 degrees or more from a position above the shaft 4 to a position in substantially horizontal alignment with the shaft 4 will occur during the travel of the sad iron from a very short distance above the material being pressed to a position slightly higher.

The operation of the device will be de scribed with reference to Figs. 4- to S which show diagrammatically the relation of the positions of the counterweight and pulley to the several positions which the sad iron assumes in the course ofan ordinary pressing operation. It will be seen that when the iron is in its resting position,

the counterweight 30 having reached the floor, the lever arm through which the countel-weight exerts a torque on the shaft 4 is the full radius of the pulley 10. This lever arm, and consequently the torque. remain substantially constant through quite a large range of vertical movement of the iron, the lower limit of this range being shown in Fig. 5. It is only when the sad iron is loweredquite close to the board. for instance an inch or less. that the ledge 31. of the pulley assumes such position as to materially shorten the effective lever arm through which the counterweight exerts its torque. By the time the iron has reached the table 29 the ledge 31 has passed to the other side of the shaft 4 so that the lever arm of the weight 30 is represented by the radius of the shaft; this radius is so small compared to the radius of the pulley 10 that the upward force of the counterweight on the sad iron is practically negligible, and remains so throughout the pressing strokes of the iron as illustrated in Fig. 8.

It will be evident from the above description that. owing to the small size of the pulley 5. but a very small vertical movement of the iron above the boardserves to per mit a movement of the ledge 31 froin a position giving a 'minimum lever arm to that giving a maximum lever arm for the counterweight 30. It is therefore only necessary' for the operator to make the muscular effort to lift the iron through a very short distance before the iron becomes fully counterbalanced. If desired, the weight lO'niay be sufficient to slightly more than counterbalance thesad iron so that after the maximum torque takes effect the iron will be gradually raised by the counterweight to its resting position. p

Although I have shown one arrangement for securing a sudden change of the torque exerted by the counterweight so as toautounderstood that my invention includes various modificat ons for securmg this sudden change of torque and for varying the efl'ective downward force exerted by the sad iron in different positions.

Summing up the advanta possessed by my device 2- (l) The iron is suspended directly above its working location instead. of being re moved. two or three feet horizontally as is usually required, thus saving time for its removal from and its return to the work in addition to the saving of muscular energy required to lift the iron when the counterbalancing feature is not used.

(2) There is a saving of the nervous effort ordinarily required in guiding the iron from, the board'to its resting place and in picking up the hot iron and returning it to pressing position.

(3) Approximately the full weight of the iron is available forpressing in working positions yet the iron is fully suspended in the rest position.

(4) Irons of different weight may be readily interchanged by making the correspending change in the counterweight.

(5) During the intervals between actual pressing operations the iron in its suspended position does not interferewith the handling of the goods to be pressed. i (6) A very heavy iron can be easily handled by a person of slight physical strength.

Although I have described in considerable detail one form which the invention may take. it will be understood that various changes can be made in the hereindescribed construction without departing from the spirit of the invention defined in the appended claims. Furthermore the invention is not limited to apparatus in whichthe pressure exerted by the pressing member is due to gravity alone, but is to be understood broadly to include also constructions in which power is applied to a pressing member to force it against the work when it is in pressing position. but is reduced or elin'iinated when said member is out-of pressing position.

In its broader aspect the invention oomemployed' in the embodiment of apparatus here illustrated and as set forth in certain prises also the novel mechanical movement tially as it is moved from its pressing posi tion,

3. Pressing apparatus comprising, in combination, a pressing member and means including pulley means actuated by a vertical movement of the pressing member for counteracting the weight of the pressing member substantially immediately after it is moved from its pressing position.

4. Pressing apparatus comprising, in combination, a pressing member and automatic means including pulley means for approximately counteracting the weight of the pressing member when it has been raised approximately an inch aboveits pressing position.

5. Pressing apparatus comprising, in combination, a sad iron, a vertically movable counterweight therefor, and means including pulley means dependent upon movement of the sad iron for varying the upward force exerted thereon by said counterweight.

6. Pressing apparatus comprising, in combination, a sad iron, a counterweight therefor, and means including pulley means for suddently increasing the upward force of the counterweight on the, sad iron quickly after the latter is raised from its pressing position.

7. Pressing apparatus comprising, in COIH- bination, a shaft, a pulley on said shaft, a sad iron suspended from said pulley, a second pulley on said shaft, a counterweight suspended from said second pulley and means carried by said second pulley whereby the torque exerted by said counterweight on said shaft suddenly varies when the latter is turned from certain positions.

8. Pressing apparatus comprising, in com,- bination, a shaft, pulleys on said shaft, a sad iron suspended from one of said pulleys and exerting a substantially constant torque on said shaft, a counterweight suspended from the other of said pulleys and exerting a torque-on said shaft and means carried by said counterweight pulley for suddenly varying for suddenly increasing the torque exerted by said counterweight when the sad iron is raised a short distance from its pressing position.

10. Pressing apparatus comprising, in combination, a movable pressing member, and means including pulley means adapted and arranged to exert a variable lifting force on said pressing member, the force exerted depending upon the position of the latter, the lifting force exerted on said pressing member being rapidly increased when the pressing member is just moving away from its pressing position.

11. Pressing apparatus comprising the combination, with a pressing support, of a pressing member, and means including pulley means operable by change in relative position between said support and said pressing member to rapidly approximately counteracting the weight of the latter as the relative position of said support and member changes but while they are still relatively close together.

12. Pressing apparatus comprising the combination, with a pressing buck, of a sad iron, a counterweight therefor, and means including pulley means for suddenly increas ing the upward force of the counterweight on the sad iron substantially immediately after the latter is raised from its pressing position upon said buck.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature.

FRITZ LOWENSTEIN. 

